


Bound By Silver Blood

by Werefox



Category: Redwall Series - Brian Jacques
Genre: Book 11: Marlfox, F/F, Gen, Non-Canon Relationship, Non-Canonical Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 09:38:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17701928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Werefox/pseuds/Werefox
Summary: Songbreeze turned her eyes skyward. “Why?” She pondered, almost to herself.“Why what Song? Why do vermin pillage and murder and ruin the lives of goodbeasts everywhere? I couldn’t tell ya. But I can tell you this,” Jangular's voice dropped into a low snarl, “Vermin never change, their kind has always, and will always, be villainous scum.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The stories say that the foxes of Castle Marl are devious creatures, that death follows in their wake, and betrayal clouds their every thought. What the stories don't speak of, is the family that once was, seven siblings thrust onto a bloody path that need not have been traveled, and the vixen who through it all kept searching for something more.





	Bound By Silver Blood

The mood between the trees of Mossflower Woods was unsettling, dewdrops seemingly quivering across the oak and aspen leaves. Amongst the foliage lay a fox, mottled cloak obscuring them from a nearby vermin encampment. However, unlike those foxes found in roaming bands of vermin around Mossflower, the vixen’s coat was a bright silver, the moon drawing out it’s sheen whenever it poked through the treetop. A large halberd, standing two paw lengths longer than herself, sat beside her in the brush, the edge sharp, and pike to a gleaming point atop the metal shaft. 

Ziral's golden eyes scanned the ten score of water rats lounging beneath the towering oak trees, her gaze stopping upon the appearance of two foxes of similar attire and coat enter the camp, their voices cutting through the air sharper than the axes hidden beneath their cloaks. 

"Stupid old squirrel! Why'd he have to do that?" Ascrod whined, paw pressed against the side of his muzzle. 

His sister, and Ziral's twin, Vannan walked alongside him, patting him softly on the back with one paw, the other clutching a large bump on her head, all while attempting not  to laugh at her older brother. "Aye, he sure got you good Ascrod"

Ziral stood from her hiding place and meandered over to the pair, shoving rats out of her way. Her eyes narrowed and blazing, "So the woodlanders fight back around here." She growled, muzzle pulling into a dark snarl. "We'll have to teach them the error of messing with Marlfox blood."

Quickly grasping Ascrod's free paw, she pulled him across the camp and into her own personal tent, Vannan following closely behind. Upon leaving view of the surrounding vermin, Ziral's gaze softened, and she rapidly darted across the small space, reaching into a chest sitting besides her sleeping kit and pulling out a long roll of cloth. 

"Come here Ascrod, let us get this all cleaned up before the others get back. Don't need Mokkan getting on your case again for ignoring his advice." Ziral murmured, her paws dabbing the blood off his punctured snout.

"I can't help it." He sniveled, completely missing the long look passed between his sisters. "The singing voice was just so nice, I had to go find out who it was." 

Vannan, who in the meantime had scavenged around the room for a cloth and water to apply across her bruised forehead, muttered softly into Ziral's ear, "Of course he did, the moron. How he's survived this long is beyond me."

"Hush Vannan," the vixen murmured, "He doesn't know any better." She had just finished cleaning up the wound from the woodlander's dart, and began rubbing small circles into Ascrod's back, soothing the older fox. It was then that a shout rang through the camp, piercing the walls of her thin tent. A grimace darted across Ziral's features, before she quickly applied a snarl to her visage and shoved Ascrod back out into the open air, pulling an acceptant Vannan behind her. 

Seeing the two marlfoxes who had just arrived pushing their way through the camp towards the array of tents for the royals, Ziral turned to her two companions with a loud growl,"I can't believe you two let that woodlander make fools of you!" 

"Did Ascrod walk into a tree again?" Gelltor hollered, Pedrak snickering at his side. The youngest set of twins were notorious in castle Marl for playing crude and often deadly pranks, the jokes they made about the older foxes were never in good humor either.

"No," she snarled, teeth bared at the pair, "The trash around this part of Mossflower isn't afraid to fight back, and have yet to learn the error in such. Now why don't the two of you go do something useful for a change and see where Mokkan vanished off to." 

A gasp from a few nearby water rats answered her, all looking into the forest's edge behind her. "No need sister. I have already returned." It took all of her will to not jump, but somehow her voice held steady as she responded, still glaring at Gelltor.

"Then perhaps we can stop sitting around like lazybeasts and actually do what we came here to do." It was then that she turned, her eyes locking with the larger Marlfox standing only a few feet away. "Unless you found nothing of value while you were out scouting Mokkan. I do so hope that this wasn't a waste of all our times." 

The eldest fox chuckled, his eyes glinting in the moonlight. “Oh I found something all right. That abbey we were told about lies just ahead.” 

Ziral narrowed her eyes, a frown working its way on her muzzle, “You mean the same abbey that the stories say has never been overtaken by an opposing force? Where warlords like Cluny the Scourge have fallen, and their warriors are said to only be outmatched by those crazy badgers to the west. Are you as mad as our mother Mokkan?”

A cruel smirk adorned her brother’s face, “Not only spouting cruelties to poor Queen Silth, but doubting the prowess and magic of a Marlfox, much less six. Are you sure it is not you that is mad, sister?”

Mokkan turned towards the rest of his siblings, “Unless the rest of you are scared of a few mice and tree rats, and wish to run back to mother with  _ nothing _ , go gather the rats. We march at dawn.”

Upon returning to her tent, Ziral swore under her breath, frustration filling the interwoven growls, almost entirely directed at her own lack of foresight. Any chance Mokkan had to undermine any of his siblings was one the clever fox would take, and she berated herself for stepping into position for his verbal retorts to further distance the vixen from the top of their sibling’s power struggle. Despite being second only to her brother in combat prowess, she knew her patented Marlfox ‘magic’ and stealth was below that of Mokkan, Pedrak, and Lantur. Vannan easily outstripped all of them, but that was expected when her twin spent years amongst the stones of Castle Marl hiding in the shadow of her sister, always shying from confrontations under the pretense of ‘observation’. At least she had no worries from two of the brood attempting to force their way onto her position as second in line to the blood soaked throne of her mother. Ascrod was so incredibly inept at everything that even Lantur’s pet rat stood a better chance at taking the throne, and her and Vannan were probably the only two amongst the seven that actually cared about one another, besides where a sibling’s blade stood in regard to one’s back. 

Sometimes the Ziral wondered why she even bothered to position herself for their mother’s throne one day. If they didn’t kill each other off eventually, then Mokkan would be the one to horde any power she may have had to himself, none of them would see any power if he had control over their scores of rats. Yet she couldn’t see the younger ones giving up without a fight. Lantur was sure to be planning her takeover while they were out scoring the land for whatever the hell their mother could have possibly been interested in, and the prankster twins were far too bloodthirsty to sit back and do nothing. Looking around the tent at the few possessions she brought with her, her paws quickly swept into her pack, and pulled out a crumpled sketch. Lantur looked so tiny in it, a small kit sitting in Vannan’s lap, while Ascrod fidgeted beside her hesitantly, as if afraid of the small bundle of fur. Their older brother sat behind them, Mokkan’s large cloak draped over the three of them, while Pedrak and Gelltor lounged in the forefront of the image, looking at their sister curiously, paws fiddling with something hidden between them. Had the image been a memory, it would have ended with the twins attempting to tie their siblings together with a rope they had hidden in their cloaks, while their father chuckled from the doorway as he stumbled upon the scene. “When did we all have to grow up. Why did the madness have to set in and ruin everything,” she murmured, a teardrop sinking into the parchment as she folded it back up, and hid it once more in her bag. The muffled roaring of the nearby river covered Ziral’s quiet sobs as she gathered her things for daybreak.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A few hours to the south, along the same river, the roar of water was dulled, as the banks spread further apart and the trees parted between each side, allowing the moonlight to shine through, a bright orb reflecting back up from the water. It’s shape was broken by a large splash, a small pebble whisking through shape’s center, ripples echoing outwards in perfect circles. A squirrelmaid sat amongst the boughs of a large willow, her dark terracotta fur vivid against the trunk of the tree, a sling still swinging slowly in her right paw. The squirrel’s eyes were fixated on the reflection of the moon on the water, another pebble breaking the surface as she whirled her sling once again, striking a leaf that had floated into the light. “Couldn’t sleep, eh?” A gruff voice spoke up from behind the maid. 

Songbreeze Swifteye jumped to her feet, paw clutched to her heart, and she spun towards the voice. “Why must you always do that!” 

Janglur chuckled at his daughter, eyes alight with amusement as he took note of the sling that had fallen onto the branch. “How else am I to teach ‘ya not to stay up all night? ‘Course, not that I blame you with the racket comin’ from over there.” He glanced over his shoulder, where his wife Rimrose slept besides Ellayo, his mother, each snoring loud enough to seem like a competition, as if both were striving to cover the river’s noise. 

Songbreeze giggled, “Oh, like you're not the loudest of us all! If you fought half as well as you snored, then that fox earlier wouldn’t have a nose anymore.”

The warrior squirrel quieted at the reminder, furrowing his brow as he thought. “I still don’t like how that fox just vanished like that Song. Makes me wonder what their business is in Mossflower, being the vermin that they are, I doubt its anything good.” The trees seemed to share his sentiments, rustling softing in the wind as he spoke, a chill running down Song’s back as it passed.

Picking up her sling and wrapping it around her paw, she looked over to where her father bristled nearby. “Do you think we’ll reach Redwall by tomorrow?” Though she didn’t say it, her excitement in finally visiting the large abbey was easily apparent with her tail flicking back and forth anxiously. 

Janglur turned a sharp eye to the maid, “Aye, though not before we work on that aim little one.” He looked her over slowly, his posture slouching with worry. “I wish you weren’t interested in fighting, or that there wasn’t a reason to train harder. But with vermin so close to the abbey, it’s only expected they’ll attack it. It’s what they do.” 

The trees rustled their agreement once more, though Songbreeze turned her eyes skyward. “Why?” She pondered, almost to herself.

“Why what Song? Why do vermin pillage and murder and ruin the lives of goodbeasts everywhere? I couldn’t tell ya. But I can tell you this,” His voice dropped into a low snarl, “Vermin never change, their kind has always, and will always, be villainous scum.” A muscled paw rubbed an old scar along his thigh, wincing slighting as it passed over his knee. “Now get to bed, we have a long morning ahead of us if we want to get to Redwall before those foxes and rats.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Dawn broke over an already bustling Marlfox encampment, rays scurrying around under the harsh glare of the silver foxes. Only the eldest was absent from the scene, still inside his tent while Ziral and her siblings got the army into marching shape. The vixen was already in a bad mood, snarl etched onto her snout while she ripped into a pair of younger rats. “How did the two of you manage to lose an ENTIRE SCORE’S WORTH OF RATIONS!” Her voice echoed off the trees, startling Ascrod into a shriek, while the rats cowered under her glare. 

“We didn’t lose it,” one of them stuttered out. “It fell off the boats when everyone stood up and my paws slipped when we tried to catch it and-“

“I don’t want your pitiful excuses, I want the two of you out there replacing what you’ve lost. Get out of my damn sight and maybe I won’t write your incompetence into your filthy hides with my axe.” The water rats scurried off in fear, shoving each other in their haste to make it to the relative safety of the forest proper. Ziral reached a paw up to press against her forehead in an attempt to stave off the oncoming headache. Soft steps came from behind her, and an arm stretched out across the vixen’s shoulders.

“You worry too much about them,” a soft voice murmured into one ear, the paw across her back reaching up to stroke the other. 

“Tch. That’s not what that was,” Ziral whined softly. “I was disciplining them.”

Vannan’s mouth picked up into a smirk. “You may fool Mokkan and the others with your yelling and threats., but you can’t fool me sister. Any of them would have had those two strung up by their fore paws begging for mercy, and we both know it.” The words were whispered, too low for the few rats that remains nearby to hear. 

“I can’t help myself Vannan, they just looked so pitiful when explaining their failure.” Ziral’s eyes scanned the camp, stopping upon each of their siblings for a moment before speaking again. “Sometimes I just see them as mirrors of our siblings were before father was killed. Just a bit too innocent, a tad too ignorant of the path we’re leading them down.” 

It was then that Mokkan swept out of his tent, cloak billowing out as he approached the pair. Vannan pulled her arm back, falling into an upright stance at Ziral’s right flank. “We move out now sisters, stop wasting breath on idle chatter.” He stalked off into the camp, presumably to inform the rest of their brood as well. 

“Well, you heard the son of a bitch…”  Ziral muttered quietly to herself.

“What was what Zi?” 

She ignored the question and strode off into the scores of rats, knocking about those that seemed to be moving too slowly for her tastes. “Get your fucking tails moving, you have until I circle back around to be ready to leave, or half rations for all of you!” Her voice carried across the clearing, those she had yet to reach already picking up their pace to avoid the vixen’s claws.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Song’s eyes lit up as the red building came into view late in the afternoon, towering over many of the nearby oaks, though her father’s narrowed at the sight. The battlements stood empty almost empty, a lone squirrel pacing atop the northern wall, as laughter rang out from inside. The smell of pastries and fish wafted through a slightly ajar door along the southern end of the building.    As the squirrel maid skipped towards the opening, mouth watering at the delicious smells of apples, raspberries, and fish, Janglur strode past her, face distorted in anger, and threw open the wooden door open with a loud crash. The occupants of the abbey spun towards the sound, their celebration silencing as they took in the short and burly squirrel glaring at the lot of them. “I knew y’all were a bunch of peaceful beasts but this is absurd! One guard watching the walls, the southern entrance open, are you ASKING for vermin to march in here and take whatever they want!”

His voice bellowed around the courtyard, silence falling in its wake, before the squirrel from the northern wall descended with a hop and bolted over towards the new arrivals. “Whaddaya mean the south entrance was open! Nobeast has been near it all evening-” The guard cut himself off mid word, and then whirled towards the abbey dwellers, picking out another squirrel cowering slightly in their midst. “DANNFLOR REGUBA, YOU DISGRACE TO THE NAME OF OUR ANCESTORS, GET OVER HERE SO I CAN TAN YOUR HIDE!” 

Song stood horror struck as the smaller squirrel stumbled out of the crowd, only to be smacked to the ground by the first. His paw raised into the air, preparing for another strike, when Janglur dashed in between the pair, catching the descending arm, his earlier frustration seemed to be replaced with worry at the sight of Dannflor laid out on the grass. “Rusvul, we have bigger issues to discuss at the moment. Leave the boy alone for now, he’s still young, it was probably just a mistake-”

“Damn fool of a boy left the gate open Janglur! I’d say it’s more than just a mistake, it’s a-” A boom interrupted Rusvul, stopping his tirade as rapidly as it had started. A large badger towered over the still silent gathering of abbey dwellers, paws together from the clap she had just issued. 

“Rusvul Reguba, shut up, and get inside. We will discuss your son, and Janglur’s news in my room. In the meantime, let the rest of these folk enjoy their feast in peace. I’m sure the walls will be fine for a few minutes.” When the squirrel failed to move, the badger snarled, striding towards him. “If you don’t move right now tree rat, you will remember why they called me Rose-Eyes first hand, get inside!”

The badgerlady ambled towards the large entrance to the abbey itself once Rusvul started towards it as well, the pair vanishing into the building. Janglur turned to his family with a somber expression, “Join these good beasts in their dinner, I need to talk with Cregga and Russ about those foxes.” His eyes landed on his daughter’s worried face, “And maybe go talk to that boy Song, he’s about your age, and could probably use a friend right about now.” 

Her father shambled off into the building, leaving Song alone among unknown faces, her mother and grandmother already socialising with old friends amongst the redwallers. Her gaze caught however on the young squirrel who had been the center of attention just moments before, dejectedly wandering towards the steps of the northern western battlements besides the gatehouse, a paw pressed against his head. Her father’s words still in mind, she dashed towards him, almost tripping over her own paws while doing so, and caught him just has he stepped onto the first stair. “Hiya! I’m Songbreeze but people call me Song and I was wondering if you’d like to be my friend ‘cause I don’t have any friends and we never really meet other beasts my age and-” The words poured from the squirrel maiden’s mouth, her nervousness easily apparent in the slight stutter that touched some of the words. Dannflor gaped at her, as if unsure of how to respond, or even interject something into her excited babbling. “-and if you really wanted to I could be your friend and perhaps we could go on adventures and fight bad guys, I’ve been really practicing with my sling and I want to learn how to wield a sword  and-”

“Woah, hold up, fighting bad guys?” he spoke up, paws wringing together nervously. “I don’t really uh, do fighting.”

Song looked curiously at him, glancing back at the large abbey behind her as well, “But, like, aren’t you the son of Rusvul Reguba? My dad doesn’t talk much about the people who live here, what with us not ever visiting before, but I’ve heard all the stories of the pair of them off fighting scores of rats and such back to back. Those stories always have made me want to follow in his footsteps, become a warrior maiden and fight off villains.”

Dannflor scoffed quietly, “Yeah, and all of them ended with ’Why can’t you do better Dann, stop wasting time helping in the kitchens Dann, you should be out training with a blade instead, it never stopped.” His eyes cast downward, paw scuffing the ground.. “He never asked what I wanted to do.”

“That’s ok! We don’t have to go on adventures, except maybe to the kitchen, scarfing down a few pastries sounds pretty good right now!” Song winked at him, a mischievous smile across her snout. 

“But, my dad...” Dann muttered, looking nervously at one of the higher windows in the abbey, where he knew Cregga’s room lay. “I’m already in trouble with him, if we-”

“Oh come on! It’ll be fun, and plus everyone is outside for whatever this festival thingy is anyways. We’ll just be super sneaky.” Song giggled, before dashing off into the abbey, tail vanishing behind the massive door. Dann sigh, looking at the sky, as if asking for someone to save him from excitable squirrel maidens, before ambling after her with a resigned look.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Amidst the shadows of a damp and cold cell, something stirred, spikes clacking against each other and a beast slowly pulled themselves to their paws. Chains dragged along the stone floor as they shambled towards the cell door, where a water rat stood guard. The rat looked bored, kicking at the ground and muttering softly to himself, pacing back and forth every few seconds. A muscular paw shot through the bars upon one of the rat’s closer paces, grabbing him roughly around the neck. There was a quiet snap as the paw clenched, and the rat fell limp, before being dropped to the floor. The shadowy figure dropped to one knee, inspecting the corpse, before pulling a key out of one of the pockets, and hiding it in their rags. With a powerful show of strength, the beast picked up the rat once more, tossing them down the hall, in front of a different cell, where another rat lay imprisoned, likely for treason.With a groan, the shadow stumbled back to the dark corner, and collapsed once more.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first fanfic I've ever posted, though I've written a few, and had ideas for hundreds more. I don't know how much more I'll write, though I have most of the overarching plot points planned out, really depends on if there's any interest, and how long I can keep a decent writing pace up. 
> 
> I've always been a fan of foxes, if my name doesn't give it away, and disliked that they were always the bad guys in the Redwall series, and even those that were 'good', it was always a dying breath kinda thing. So as such, I set out to write a story that involved my favorite set of foxes, and make at least one of them not be irredeemably evil. 
> 
> I shall *try* to post more in the future, but no promises. I tried to fix any mistakes myself, but if y'all notice any, point them out and I'll fix them. 
> 
> Much love, Olivia
> 
> |Posted 2/7/2019|


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